This perhaps generates more cynicism than anything else. Over the past few months, I have become increasingly bitter with the telecom landscape in India. We have “expounded myths” about “millions” materializing from thin air to headlines dominated by three major trends

1) Smart phones and Android taking center stage with Nokia dying a slow death.

2) 2G spectrum scam

3) 3G mess.

There are tonnes of web sites scattered all around to tell you about Android’s home coming. I am not getting in the debate about what is good or bad but Apple (across the lines) remains aspirational because of it’s perceived value.

2G Spectrum scam has also been mentioned extensively with the political fall out affecting Congress and it’s cohorts; again the debate has been frittered away to be of any consequence.

3G Mess is bad. Really bad. Partly because it has been sold on lines of “only Internet access” you’d ever need. As mentioned in these columns (and comments) that none of the devices support advertised speeds of 21Mbps; more so, in absence of clear definition of what 3G speeds are, you would not really see much traction there. The operators have dreamt of fat profits accruing from the sales and perhaps are marketing different plans for mobile handsets and wireless modems. Docomo even explicitly prohibits “tethering” mobiles to laptops citing it as “violation of terms of use”; as it they can “prove it court of law”. Assholes.

4G is on the horizon and as such the media reports were peppered with what technology to choose. There are of course competing issues; I am not qualified enough to explain the merits/demerits of each.

Another highlight of this year was the final recognition of menace of telemarketing calls and sms (with sms rates being usurious and companies raking in huge profits from what is essentially free for them). I have written about it earlier but there are others in space who have written about it more extensively (Rajesh Jain on Telemarketing and SMS Spam[1,2,3,4,5])

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) would be a big issue in 2011. Although it has been launched in Haryana, there are not enough media reports about the impact of MNP on the same. Is it surprising? With telecom companies leading in advertisement spends, they hold enough leverage to influence reporting the issue. Hence I would remain blocked out on the same unless it becomes a major issue. However, they don’t give a shit to the users because there is no REAL choice between the service providers. Most of the new operators have yet not launched their operations (and hence got notices for the same) so it is difficult to comment on the same. I foresee a lot of activity in next year in terms of new players and mobile number portability to affect them. Yet, with the rise of cheap “chinese manufactured- Indian branded” hardware with dual and three SIM card slots, issues like MNP don’t hold much promise. Hence this too would remain a lot of hot air with some speculation towards “power to consumer”.

I have written extensively to TRAI, Department of Telecom and various stake holders in media about why need broadband and what is basic policy flaw in the system. This has also been a subject of my RTI applications being filed with them. At risk of sounding repetitive, we all need a proper system for growth of the nation and that is a foregone conclusion. However, the system is designed not to provide but to deprive the users from opportunities. If public good were at the heart of policy makers (and politicians), we would not have been a kangaroo republic (mistaken for a democracy).

I fail to understand the stupidity of media houses not to push for all inclusive growth in Broadband; since their own very future depends on it. I have briefly toyed with the idea of setting up a NGO; there is no scarcity of ideas that need to be implemented. What is lacking in this space is will to implement those ideas. The whole scenario is lumbering around like a giant iceberg. Yet as monotony in this space grows, Internet access is fuelled by explosive growth in social networking to Facebook’s data servers. Here in lies the rub. Media in India is even lacking in this space and focusing instead to try out experiments in their own walled microdomains expecting the advertisers to come on in hordes and expecting to rake in millions of dollars from advertising click throughs.

However, this dream lies shattered with corpses of media houses dotting the landscape instead. Content is supreme and while we retain the numero uno position for generating mountains of crap in terms of bollywood export, this has not found a “release” except from traditional channels of multiplexes and to some extent, DTH. Instead, we don’t have a Hulu or Netflix like player capitalizing on this aspect of delivery. 3g cannot do it. 4g cannot do it. Wifi perhaps. Broadband on wirelines- definitely.

This blog has also seen some write ups on the need to tone up internet exchanges, need for TRAI to jig up it’s broadband policy and a call for Public Internet cafes. Interestingly, we also saw NDTV’s programme on broadband which we linked on to and perhaps the first in a long long time coming in from mainstream media. TRAI did talk about “fair usage policy” although in context of telecom tariffs. Another highlight was my post on online education and something on cloud computing in respone to Chrome OS.

This, by and large, what I had written with some guest posts. I have already filed in RTI application with BSNL as listed and I am awaiting their response. My only aim to get to root on pricing on Broadband, the mess and perhaps get a better deal on it in the long run. The first step is perhaps to re-define broadband from it’s present definition. I am also planning to involve TRAI in this loop along with perhaps Department of Telecom and see how they differ. Although TRAI is the regulator, the real power lies with DoT. Yet, it is a blame game that they are likely to play. DoT would say that TRAI has to come up with regulations first. TRAI would say that DoT is the real boss and they have to come up with a “circular”. No one wants to work and consumer gets the fuck of his life.

I have seen the Indians from close quarters. They would suffer all the insults with great temerity and humbleness. Perhaps it is the servile attitude that is ingrained in their psyche. Neither we are going to see a good amount of activism to make the public institutions deliver nor are the companies going to make any efforts to tone up their services. It costs real money to keep up with after sales service which actually eats up the profits and hence customer service is perhaps the last of ideas on their minds.

This post by itself is a huge huge post in a long long time! Maybe perhaps, I have written about trends subconsciously which I feel would impact the telecom landscape in some way or the other. The market is not geared towards course correction but is littered with asymmetric information to disadvantage of consumers. Sadly proactive approaches, either at regulator level or mass media or even at consumer level is sorely lacking.

The new year is not going to change this scenario in any manner whatsoever.

Tags: 1Mbps, 3G, Advertisement, Advertising, android, API, Assholes, Broadband, BSNL, Chinese, Computing, Department of Telecom, DoT, DTH, handsets, India, Indians, Internet, laptop, mainstream media, Media, Mobile, Mobile Number Portability, Mobiles, NDTV, Opera, scam, SMS, spam, Spectrum, Telecommunications India, TRAI, Web Sites, Wifi, Wireless

I decided to stick around after lunch time today to file in the application. It is a simple process. One has to purchase a postal order (from any post office in the country), attach it to the application after filling in the details on postal order (for 10 bucks) and you are good to go.

Submit it to the PIO and wait for the answer from them. I wonder what has been the reaction from their office after getting a detailed questionnaire. Lets wait for the answers (next year).

I am keeping my fingers crossed. My contention is that you make the top incumbent come clean on the prices which would help you to negotiate the prices with say Airtel. At least I would have a broad idea as to how the revenues are split, what are the issues that need to be sorted out and confront TRAI with the same to issue policy decisions (perhaps Department of Telecom too).

I think, all it needs is a simple will to do something instead of getting mired in the red tapism. I have already written to the DoT Secretary (R Chandrashekhar) but he has not replied so far. I am not even sure whether the email has landed in his inbox.

Some time later next year, if everything goes well, I might plan to meet him in person.

The idea is to get broadband liberated; so that at least I get the best value for my money. I’d rather have a functional DSL first for starters; fiber can wait for some time.

I was also surprised to see BSNL’s equivalent IPTV packages in their customer care. I am not sure how this would work out or what is the customer review. Although it is a good option for time shift TV but with bundled speeds of 256kbps, I am not eager to join them. With customer resolution at local BSNL exchange, I am not keen to run around to get my service fixed in case of any “issues”.

Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Tags: Airtel, API, Broadband, BSNL, BSNL Broadband, Department of Telecom, DoT, IPTV, Telecommunications India, TRAI

I have been having a very interesting exchange of ideas with Mathew Carley who is the owner of Hayai Broadband. He needs no introduction on the forums and I owe a lot of good deal to him. However, I must defend the user’s perspective and a blog post follows.

He writes:

1. FUP is not illegal, and there is nothing legally wrong with what any ISP is doing when it wants to keep it’s network under control – it is perhaps unethical to advertise a broadband plan as “unlimited” and apply an FUP. I prefer (and use) the term flat-rate, which refers to pricing, not usage.

TRAI, the regulator defines Broadband as “always on with a speed of 256kbps”. They have supported this definition that has been taken from ITU web site. The whole point here, from an end user’s perspective is that the definition has remained static. I think the FCC definition has also remained stuck here. However, the push for “faster speeds” has mainly come from academia and the realization among the telcos that serving content through their dumb pipes can be very lucrative, net neutrality be damned.

All the more they ALSO realize that it pays in the long run to get the customers hooked on to “speeds” AND “content” and then make money out of “traffic shaping” and the works.

Yet, if you look at the pdf from ITU (opens up a link in your pdf viewer), do check out the page 19 (under pricing) where it clearly states the success of South Korea broadband has been because of “flat rate”.

Here BSNL (others and your probably included) have different tiers with a “limit”. Now this limit can be argued. As I had mentioned that majority of your users would be content with social networking / email you would hardly see the “abuse” of network. However, BSNL is a public service. Which means that the network effectively belongs to public and for arguments sake has no say in the way it overlords it. Thats my opinion.

You would be owning the fiber and its for you to come out with what ever plan/ideas you wish to.

As far as TRAI is concerned, it does NOT mention the word “fair usage policy” which is again in contravention to license terms (as all the ISP’s are regulated by TRAI/DoT) and hence ILLEGAL. So you are right too except that it sugar coats the bitter pill.

2)

Many sites – even many India-centric sites, are hosted abroad. This is where the “strain on the networks” usually comes in.

Yes, I know it. Koreans have much of it hosted inside the country because they are not too comfortable with English. Duh. We are among the largest speaking country in the world by the way; still it is not a huge net market.

3) BSNL only has an International cable between India and Sri Lanka – it doesn’t have any going anywhere else. It buys almost all of it’s bandwidth from VSNL – 65% from VSNL/Tata India, 14% from GlobeInternet (a subsidiary of Tata in North America), with the rest from a small assortment of other ISPs both domestic and foreign through it’s various arrangements.

Thanks for letting me know this. I am waiting for official confirmation including the break up of prices.

4. We can safely assume that they’re anticipating about 300GB of usage on their FTTH plans, at Rs10/GB. Cheaper than what I can get it for, but they’ll already be getting the volume discounts I’m aiming for.

Network usage varies WILDLY. I cannot nail even an “AVERAGE USE” but well, it can possibly be predicted once the metrics are clear, the amount of traffic flowing in your fiber and the works.

7. If you’re an ADSL customer, 768kbit/s is pretty much all you’ll get out of a DSL line anyway, unless you’re really close to your DSLAM. ADSL2+ is meant to go up to 3.5mbit/s upload speed, but in NZ I’m 300m away from my cabinet on fairly decent quality lines, and I barely hit 900kbit/s. Since the default upload speed they provide I think is 256kbit/s and you purchase more upload in 256kbit/s increments, this probably is to cover their ass so as to prevent people from trying to buy 1 or 2mbit/s upload and then getting about 768k.

Thanks! The wording on the web site sounded as a “limit” without mentioning the technical reason. Let them confess in writing that it it still is ADSL and then I can question them as to why it is taking delay in introducing ADSL 2. I can file as many as RTI’s I want!

@operamaniac Right of way and civil works costs a fortune. I mean that quite literally – about 75-80% of our laying of fiber to homes goes towards these two things: the fiber and equipment to run the network are negligable costs by comparison, and since it can be crores per kilometer, it won’t take many kms of fiber for us to reach 1,000 crores.

The sad fact. It is the job of municipalities to lay down fat ducts throughout and just offer it to the end users. Simple. Far sightedness is not a virtue in this country. It comes at a premium from those who are NOT in this country.

Interestingly here’s something from Wikipedia entry for ‘Internet in Japan’. It says and I quote:

Operators struggle to maintain enough bandwidth to allow maximum usage of the service by customers. Even the largest operators have capacities in the region of tens of gigabits while customers with gigabit FTTH services (or higher) may number in the thousands. This problem is further compounded by limits caused by internal router bandwidth. Estimates of traffic based on data collected in May 2007 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications set total network usage at approximately 720 Gbit/s combined. The report further states that by May 2008, total traffic will exceed 1 Tbit/s.

Woooo. But then these are 2008-09 figures. Similarly the ITU report that I alluded above is 2003. Much has changed in past 7 years; we are still stuck in the kbps and well….. Time to change the tune, the gears and tracks.

@ Operamaniac a.k.a. my dear web master. 3G is not in my radar right now. In fact, I wanted to ask them as to how they have utilized the USO fund and what is the state of broadband connections in the rural areas. I know for sure that they are spending disproportionately on 3G services and neglecting the land line when it should be reverse. Lets see how they react. At least it would be a basis for seeking legal remedy or anyone who wants to file a Public Interest Litigation.

Cheers!!

Tags: 3G, API, Broadband, BSNL, DoT, DTH, FCC, India, Internet, ISP's, Net neutrality, Opera, S Band, Tata, Telecommunications India, TRAI, VSNL